3 ½ minutes
End
Pass in your sheets
Students will understand the
changing values of
revolutionary France by
• Examining the influence of radical
ideas on the revolution
• Analyzing the effects of the Reign of
Terror
• Louis XVI is still on the throne as a
new government is being negotiated
• He agrees to uphold a new
constitution that limits his power
• France is still in chaos
• Georges Danton rallies citizens to
attack the King’s palace and violence
erupts in the streets
• Jean-Paul Marat emerges as a leader
of the people
• Jean-Paul Marat
urged the poor to
violently revolt
against the nobility
• He’s assassinated but…
• He’s seen as a martyr
for the revolution.
• A National Convention is creates a
new constitution
• They abolish the monarchy and create
the French Republic
• French is consumed by rival parties
• Girondins are more moderate.
• Jacobins are radicals
• Former King Louis XVI is executed on
January 21st by guillotine
• Now, the radicals are in control of the
government
The Guillotine:
Embodies “Enlightenment
Thinking”
• Equality – everyone
executed in the same way
• Scientific – ends life
quickly without pain
• Unrest and rebellion across France
because some groups don’t accept
the new gov’t.
• Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal,
Britain, and the Dutch Republic all
unite against France after the
execution of King Louis XVI.
• Maximilien Robespierre (and the
Committee of Public Safety) gains
broad power to protect the
revolution from all threats.
“We must smother the
internal and external
enemies of the Republic or
perish with it; now in this
situation, the first maxim of
your policy ought to be to
lead the people by reason
and the people's enemies
by terror.”
Committee of Public Safety tries to
reshape French society
• Laws established for education and outlaw
slavery
• De-Christianization of France with deist principles
like the Cult of the Supreme Being
• Robespierre wanted it to become the new French
Religion
• Not successful because of devout French Catholics
The Committee of Public
Safety prosecutes anyone who
it suspects is undermining the
revolution.
• Revolutionary Tribunals
determine guilt and
punishment
• 300,000 arrested
• 40,000 killed
• Marie Antoinette and
Olympe de Gouges both fall
victim to the “National
Razor”
Insert DRK – Crane’s Court Room
As many as 4,000 are drowned in Nantes after
being accused of not supporting the revolution
% of Different Social Classes Executed
7%
8%
28%
Peasants and
Farmers
Working Class
Bourgeoisie
25%
Nobility
Clergy
32%
No, this is a totally reasonable
way to voice your
disagreements…
• Robespierre’s terror further
intensifies
• Members of the National
Convention, condemn
Robespierre before he
goes after them too
• Robespierre is executed
on July 28, 1794, the
Jacobins lose power, and
the Terror ends.